A recurring nightmare

Wednesday

Jun 25, 2008 at 6:15 AM

First of two parts - Last week, when Sen. John McCain and President Bush supported lifting the moratorium on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf, including the fish-rich Georges Bank, local reaction was swift.

First of two parts.

Last week, when Sen. John McCain and President Bush supported lifting the moratorium on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf, including the fish-rich Georges Bank, local reaction was swift.

"Massachusetts fought the idea of offshore drilling 30 years ago," said Robert Keough of the state Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. "It was a bad idea then and a bad idea now."

On Dec. 18, 1979, 13 oil operators paid more than $816 million for five-year leases to drill about 130 to 170 miles southeast of Cape Cod. Of the 13 operators, only five drilled wells off our coast. Exxon U.S.A., Mobil, Tenneco, Conoco Inc., and Shell Offshore Oil Inc. drilled eight wells from July 1981 to September 1982.

Although the oil companies reported that all their wells came up dry, this newspaper reported on Aug. 14, 1982, that at least two exploratory drilling operations on Georges Bank discovered "significant amounts" of natural gas. Shell and Tenneco struck the same large pocket of natural gas about 145 miles southeast of Hyannis.

"It appears that the companies' discoveries may not be immediately commercially exploitable," we reported.

Indeed, less than a month after our news report, the oil companies announced that they were pulling out of Georges Bank.

In June 1983, however, the federal government significantly increased its estimate of natural gas beneath Georges Bank. Its estimates were based on well data from the rigs that drilled on Georges Bank the previous summer.

In fact, the government's estimate of natural gas deposits was 17 times greater than its estimates in 1979. If the estimates were true, natural gas reserves off the coast of Cape Cod were enough then to supply New England consumers for at least 50 years.

As a result, at least two oil companies announced plans to return to Georges Bank in the spring of 1984. But they never got the chance.

The commonwealth of Massachusetts filed suit in federal court to prevent a second lease sale. In March 1983, the state prevailed. U.S. District Court Judge David Mazzone ruled that the lease sale's environmental impact statement was inadequate.

When the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling in September 1983, the Reagan administration canceled the lease sale.

Eighteen years later, in 2001, the federal government considered another shot at drilling on Georges Bank. In a report to the Commerce and Interior departments, the National Energy Policy Development Group recommended five sites for natural gas exploration. The report specifically mentioned Georges Bank and alluded to the eight wells drilled in 1981 and 1982. The drilling, the report noted, showed promising signs.

Nevertheless, we are confident that oil rigs will never again set up shop off Cape Cod.

First, any move to lift the moratorium would face fierce opposition from a broad coalition of environmental groups, fishermen and politicians. Elected leadership in this region, including Gov. Deval Patrick, Democratic Sens. John Kerry and Edward Kennedy, and U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, are firmly against offshore drilling.

"Georges Bank is one of the richest fishing grounds in the world — it is unconscionable to risk it all for a small amount of oil and gas," Kerry said.

Third, there is simply no need to repeal the moratorium on drilling on Georges Bank because there are plenty of other sources of natural gas and oil that are available elsewhere in the country.

U.S. Rep. William Delahunt said last week that energy companies are not using thousands of leases that they currently hold for oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters.

"The leases represent 68 million acres of federal lands and waters and have the potential to produce an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day," he said. "This amount of energy would nearly double total U.S. oil production, and increase natural gas production by 75 percent. It would cut U.S. oil imports by more than one-third."

Consider also that the U.S. consumes about 23 trillion cubic feet of natural gas annually. By 2020, that annual demand is expected to increase to 35 trillion cubic feet.

Beneath Georges Bank are an estimated 5 trillion cubic feet — enough to last the nation perhaps three months. By 2020, the natural gas beneath Georges Bank would be gone in about six or seven weeks.

By comparison, the Gulf of Mexico has an estimated 200 trillion cubic feet, and gas fields off the Canadian coast by Sable Island hold an estimated 63 trillion cubic feet.

So even though oil companies found significant amounts of natural gas in 1982 off Cape Cod, the risks of drilling there again far outweigh the short-term energy needs of the country.